Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-24
THE TRAIN DISPATCHER.
A Man Who Holds the Life OF Every
Passenger In His Hand.

Passenger In His Hand.
There is class OF railway employees,
almost entirely unknown To passengers,
whose responsibility is SO much greater,
and whose slightest omission might
ieopardize the lives Of people on trains
more than any oversight on the part Of
conductors or engineers, that il is indeed
strange that they are so seldom mentioned
in the public prints. This class is the
train dispatchers, whose every order is
implicitly obeyed by trainmen; and while
the crew of one train is responsible for the
movements of that train alone, the dis
patche.' holds in his hands the lives OF
every individual on every train on the
road; and on a road having a large traffic
l>e duties imposed on him are very great
and arduruS-
His position in the railway service is
unique; were all trains running on time
and provided for on the periodical time
table issued by the company, he wonld
have no duties 10 perform; but trains Will
get delayed and occasions will arise re
quiring extra trains, or trains without
any specified time or rights, TO he run over
the road, and then his services are neces-
sary 10 avoid hours Of delay
classes. according to their Importance;
generally two, passenger and freight;
and all trains OF one class running in \
specified direction have the right of the
road, or need keep no lookout for trains of
the same or n lower class running in the
opposite direction. Thus il is assumed
that ON a certain railroad trains running
eastward have the right of way over trains
tluat. St hnInH
passenger train can run the whole length
of the road in entire disregard of all trains.
another passenger train going west need
only to look out for the east bound pas
senger train. while the freight trains
must keep ont of the way Of both passen
ger trains and Of the freight train which
is running in the direction prescribed rs
having the right of road.
Every one understands that all trains
are chartered, or have II time given for
passing each station. which time can i'll
no instance lie anticipated, and hence all
trairmen know where all other trains
ought To be ut any particular moment, if
ON time: but as trains frequently and gen
orally get late, the train of inferior class
must have its movement expedited by
some eXtraneous cause, OF il may lie de
ihNtt lti iiDulS aNulllhE u Nliil
have been wrecked, or has been kept back
for some other of many causes. Then the
duties of the train dispatcher are Of i'm
portance He will probably give AN order
to the delayed train by telegraph direct
ing it not TO 90 beyond certain place
| which he thinks ii can reach without diff
| ficulty, and he directs the opposing train
10 proceed 10 the same place and there
pass the other train, and i'll that manner
the trains are enabled to pass each other
| without any delay to either. His great
responsibility consists i'll that he may have
dozen other trains in his charge at the
same time, and in directing one train 10
10 beyond its usual place 10 meet another
he may neglect to give an order 10 the
second train, and in such an event IA coli
sion would probably ensue, much prop
erty be destroyed and probably lives be
lost.
II Will readily be seen that the slightest
mistake Of a train dispatcher might cause
serious results; and in this respect his re-
sponsibility is probably greater than that
of any other individual under whose
charge the public are placed. Philadel.
phia Times